Maytag Centennial Gas Dryer

This review was published on April 07, 2014. Since then, this product may have been discontinued or replaced. Pricing and availability may differ from what is stated in the review.

The Maytag Centennial MEDC300BW (MSRP $599) is amongst the cheapest dryers you can buy. Its design makes it seem like it came right out of the Cold War era. That means everything is simple and straightforward.

However, this also means the dryer has few features beyond the 7 cu. ft. drum. Big, loud, and hot, this Maytag gets the job through brute force. We found that this dryer can overdry, especially for mixed loads. If good enough is sounds right for you, then this dryer is worth checking out.

This is your Grandmother's dryer

From a fully mechanical control panel to the powdered interior, everything about the MEDC300BW is from a time before man walked on the moon. The design language screams austere and functional.

What you see is what you get. There are no hidden features or extra buttons. There's something to be said about a timer that cranks as you turn the cycle dial. Feeling the resistance is more satisfying than just pushing an electronic button.

The Centennial has four automatic cycles: More Dry, Energy Preferred, Normal Dry, and Less Dry. They live up to their names. Each of these cycles can be further adjusted by being set on low, medium, or high heat. Straight talk is always good, no need for a Towels cycle when a More Dry will do.

Overall, using the MEDC300BW is easy. There are no secondary menus or extra buttons. It's just a timer and a temperature knob.

You get what you pay for

The Maytag MEDC300BW at work. (Maytag photo)

With an MSRP of $599, you can find the Maytag MEDC300BW for as cheap as $450, making it one of the cheapest dryers on the market. What you're getting is a really slow and powerful machine.

The Normal Dry cycle lasted around an hour and fifteen minutes and clothes that endured it came out completely dry. However, this Maytag overdried them. Our sensors picked up peak temperatures north of 168°F, which can damage clothing.

Oddly enough, when we put the Centennial on Energy Preferred set to Low Heat the results were better the Normal Dry on Medium. The maximum temperature was just within the damage threshold, and our test laundry came out 85 percent dry. The kicker is that it only took 30 minutes.

Conclusion

The front of the Maytag Centennial MEDC300BW looks like an appliance out of the Cold War.

Standing the test of time

The Maytag Centennial MEDC300BW's design harkens back to an earlier era. The reason that this appliance hasn't kept up with the latest technology is because it doesn't need to. The seven cubic foot drum is capable of handling around two basket loads of laundry. The controls are very easy to operate. And it's hard to argue with the drying results. Although the MEDC300BW got too hot for our liking, it did get laundry completely dry.

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